At the beginning of the 1960s, many Americans believed they were standing at the dawn of a golden age. On January 20, 1961, the handsome and charismatic John F. Kennedy became president of the United States. He symbolized a new generation and its coming-of-age, offering new answers to old problems, and serving as a breath of fresh air in parliament. People were genuinely hopeful for prosperous years to come. However, through the end of the decade that golden age never truly came to materialize. On the contrary, it seemed that the nation was falling apart.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Throughout the 60’s, Cold War tensions rocketed due to the Cuban missile crisis and the covenant space race. The Vietnam war was raging on with no end in sight, civil rights movements were gaining rapid traction all across the US, and there was a series of devastating assassinations that seemingly shook the American public to its very core. It was a whirlwind decade of conflict and protest that ultimately changed the coarse of American history.
As stated above, there’s no doubt that the 60’s saw the rise of immense social and political unrest. It was a decade of conflict, but it was truly the first time in history that equip people to have an individual voice, to be heard, and evoke change, through the relatively new, mass influence of media.
After reading Marley’s blog post on how media feeds into terrorism and conflict, it somewhat inspired me to take adifferent stance, and explore the topic of how media can unite people in common cause and influence positive change in society.
Now 2018, it’s so prevalent to see people using news outlets and social media platforms as a basis to evoke awareness or change. For instance, the NFL Black Lives Matter movement all started because of one person, and has now grown into something so much larger due to such widespread publicity.
Colin Kaepernick, kneeling during The Star-Spangled Banner.
Colin Kaepernick’s decision to sit during the national anthem ahead of a preseason game in 2016 sparked a surge of NFL protests across the country. Since then, players have sat, kneeled and even bowed their heads in prayer as The Star-Spangled Banner echoes throughout stadiums. Kaepernick said he was using his silence to protest against police brutality and racial injustice. It didn’t take long for players across the country to follow his lead.
From left to right: Eli Harold, Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid.
Kaepernick’s mild forms of protest may not seem like a huge act of defiance, however, due to the mass influence of television, news outlets and social media, he’s gained rapid support, and it has now grown into something so much larger than himself. Similar to Kaepernick, Martin Luther King, one singular man with a dream, united the civil rights movement in America, and gave black people a voice to fight for their rights all around the world.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King was the leader of the American civil rights movement from 1954 until his death in 1968. In 1963, at the March on Washington, King delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.
The turnout, in support of the African American civil rights movement, was much larger than expected, as around 250,000 people arrived to participate in what was the largest gathering for an event in the history of the nations capital. The “I Have a Dream” speech was immediately recognized as a highlight of the successful protest, and has since been engraved in history as one of the signature moments of the civil rights movement. The March, and especially King’s speech, watched on television by a national audience of several million, helped put civil rights at the top of the agenda for law makers, and facilitated passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
MLK waving to the crowd at The March on Washington.
However, the Washington March of 1963 wasn’t the only time that media influence played a significant role in uniting the civil rights movement. The Selma march in 1965 was part of a series of civil rights protests in Alabama, a southern state with prominent racist laws and values. In an effort to register black voters in the south, protestors marched 54 miles from Selma to the state capitol of Montgomery, while being confronted with deadly, abusive force from local authorities and white supremacist groups. As the world watched, African American protesters, under the protection of National Guard troops, finally reached Montgomery, walking around the clock for over three days. The historic march, and the wide media publication of the brutal violence that the protestors endured, raised awareness of the difficulties faced by black voters, and the need for a national Voting Rights Act.
On top of civil rights movements both today and in the sixties, there have been hundreds, maybe even thousands, of other instances where people have united in common cause, due to the widespread influence of media, to create positive change in society. Colin Kaepernick and MLK were just two men in history that used the influence of media to unite people in protesting injustice, and to project their voice/message to be heard all around the world.
Another example from the 60’s could include the widespread broadcast of violent, inhumane Vietnam War footage on US television stations, and how that influenced mass nation wide anti-war protests. Even Castro, how he used frequent radio reports to boast about the false “monumental” victory of the rebels to demoralize and defeat Bautista’s army of over 100,000, can be seen as an example of how manipulative influence of media can be used to unite people in common cause.
Thousands of people gathering to protest the Vietnam War.
Castro and his men celebrating the triumph of the revolution.
History has showcased that media can be positive or negative in uniting people in common cause. However, when comparing the civil rights movements of the 60’s and the NFL Black Lives Matter movement of today, its clear how media has had a large influence in not just enabling African American people to fight for their rights, but also uniting them to do so.